1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to apparatuses for displaying information using a spherical or other curved surface which is programmable and reprogrammable, such as globes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore a wide variety of globes, maps and other representations of geographic and other information have been proposed and developed. Typically, a static printed or embossed surfaces is used on a spherical surface such as in the case of globes, or on a flat surface for maps.
An example of such prior static modifications is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,677 issued to Rifat et al. August, 1999 where surface modifications of the globe are made by removing pieces of the globe and securing different pieces in bore holes in the globe.
Another type of information display is seen in globes where the surface may be illuminated or the globe rotated and positioned to allow viewing of selected points or areas of the globe. Such disclosures are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,024 issued to Sprott, et al October, 1991 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,503 issued to Pfister, et al. January, 2000.
Attempts to incorporate the features of a static surface globe with other multimedia are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,343 issued to Ho, February 2000, and to Babin et al., August 1999. In this genre, globes are disclosed which utilize video, sound, graphic images and numerical presentations for perspective display of maps of the world or portions of the maps.
The present invention is a novel electronically programmable apparatus which may be used with globes or other curved display representations of data, allowing for the programming of individual surface element programming of illustrations. The present invention may be used with multimedia if desired. However, distinct from any prior methods or apparatus, the present invention permits the encapsulation of three dimensional space, a globe, for example, to be programmed or reprogrammed in various ways or interactive manners, so as to display temporal factors, and accordingly is not limited to static display of information.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of this invention to provide an apparatus for the display of information using a spherically shaped or otherwise curved surface display, allowing for the encapsulation and display of information in three dimensional space. The display is programmable/reprogrammable, and may be changed or updated as desired. For example, the display of political boundaries on a globe could be reprogrammed to reflect changes in political names or boundaries.
A further object is the temporal display of information which may be displayed as sequences of images, such as the simulation of animal, plant or human migrations. Further, the spherical image may be programmed to respond to user inputs, such as the user interactively modifying the rate of display of a sequence being displayed, or multiple images or combination of images can be created and displayed, such as weather data being combined with a political map or soils being correlated with animal or plant distributions.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentality""s and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
The present invention is a programmable device for the encapsulation and display of three dimensional information, comprising, a spherical or curved element, such as a globe, which is programmable/reprogrammable for the display of geographical, political, meteorological, biological, and cultural information.
A spherical or curved element with a plurality of optical lens segments is provided and is in operable communication with a plurality of programmable electronic displays, for displaying and representing information on the spherical element. The programmable displays are secured to the inside faces of lens segments so that images are directed to the outside surface of the sphere. A single segment being comprised of one square flat panel display coupled to a single optical lens. The electronic displays are controlled by microprocessors and are reprogrammable using an external programming device such as a computer, infrared connection modem, or wireless telephony. Alternatively a tethering cable to reprogram the sphere display may be used, or touch sensitive surfaces to allow reprogramming. In other embodiments replaceable media such as DVD""s, CD/ROM""s floppy disks, or electronic memory cards may be used.